Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 11:56:38 -0700
From: Keith D Burgess Jr <kburgessjr@mailblocks.com>
Message-Id: <kburgessjr-05pZrAV1BpTwXRPAFHKqDX8TUUVHXXq@mailblocks.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] Blacklist binary-only modules lying about their license
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Marc -

Wanted to take a moment to thank you for the incredible job you and 
Linuxant have done supporting the Linux community. I have been 
following the threads on the lkml and must say that I am appalled at 
the way you are being <personally> treated. If it were not for 
Linuxant, owners of the "linux unfriendly" chipsets would be SOL. I for 
one was pis**d when I found out my 2100b wireless card in my brand 
spanking new X31 was not supported; until of course, I stumbled upon 
driverloader. While there are other "free" alternatives out there and 
also the ipw2100 project, I for one do not want to go through the 
effort of compiling, modifying kernel parameters etc. For me, the $20 
spent on driverloader was well worth it and allowed me to scrap XP for 
Linux. And how about support? I surely appreciated the personal 
support, and hours, you spent on my laptop hanging issue. Would I 
recieve that from the other project's community members?

With that said, I must admit that I was one of those confused users 
when I first saw the tainted kernel message(s). I have used Linux (I 
repeat, <<used>> Linux) since about 96 or so. I don't claim to be an 
expert or a developer but by no means am a Linux newbie. Just because I 
am more interested in applications, window managers and graphical 
environments such as gnome and kde, then meaningless (to the user) 
kernel messages, does not make me a stupid user. However, not fully 
understanding the kernel message, I thought something was wrong the 
first time I noticed it (VMware modules as I recall.)

The Kernel developers should be focused on bringing Linux to the 
attention of EVERY desktop user, not just those who are knowledgeable 
of kernel messages, configuration, APIs and the GPL. Why do you think 
that distributions such as Xandros have become so popular to users 
switching to Linux? It seems rather simple to me; the product just 
plain works! Is the diamond of their OS, the file manager, released 
under the GPL? Of course not, and the users do not care! They just want 
to be able to integrate into existing Windows environments, 
authenticate against their NT/AD domains and be able to map to existing 
Windows network resources - all seamlessly.

In summary, I firmly feel that there needs to be a mindset change if 
Linux is to eat away at Windows market share on the desktops. Let's 
take a certain Linux distributor as an example; here is a quote from a 
recent posting on the 4K stacks issue:

"Too bad. External binary modules never have, and never will hold back 
development. NVIDIA need to issue driver updates that work accordingly."

Reworded from a user-focused perspective:

"External binary modules shouldn't hold back development. Although 
NVIDIA needs to issue driver updates that work accordingly, <> 
understands that our users are the number one priority. Therefore, 
until new modules are released, we will offer a workaround for users 
who are effected."

Sincerely,
Keith


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